The present invention relates to massage machines adapted to give effective massage in accordance with the figure or form of the person to be massaged and physiological data as to the person, such as pulse, skin temperature, etc.
FIG. 1 shows a massage machine 10 of the chair type which is adapted to give massage to the person as seated on a chair 11. The machine has massage members or fingers 40, 40 upwardly and downwardly movably provided inside a backrest 13 of the chair 11 for performing massage on the part of the person from his neck to back or to the waist by tapping, kneading, rolling or a combination of such movements.
With usual massage machines of the chair type, the person to be massaged manually selects a tapping, kneading or other massaging operation or selects a massage program comprising a combination of different massage movements for the machine to give massage to the person.
To produce an improved massage effect, it is desirable to give massage with a suitable intensity in accordance with the degree of stiffness of the part to be treated or with the degree of relaxation, for example, to give a strong massage to the part of great stiffness and to give a weak massage to the part of low stiffness. If a weak massage is performed on a very stiff part or a strong massage is given to the part of low stiffness, the person treated fails to feel massaged satisfactorily or feels a pain or discomfort.
However, the part to be massaged differs from person to person or the particular part (e.g., the shoulder) to be massaged is likely to differ in its position relative to the backrest depending on the body outline of the person or the way he is seated on the chair.
To give the person an effective massage, therefore, it becomes necessary to realize the figure or form of the person, i.e., the position of the neck, shoulder, back, waist or the like, and to locate a part of great stiffness or part of low stiffness, or a relaxed part or part not relaxed. However, none of the conventional massage machines are adapted to give massage in conformity with the body outline or form of the person to be massaged and the degree of stiffness or relaxation.
An object of the present invention is to provide a massage machine which is adapted to give a suitable massage in accordance with the degree of stiffness or relaxation based on the measurements of the body outline or form of the person to be massaged and of physiological data such as the pulse rate and skin temperature of the person.
To overcome the above problem, the present invention provides a massage machine comprising massage members for performing massage along the body of the person to be massaged, and control means for controlling the movement of the massage members, the massage machine further comprising means for measuring the body outline of the person, and means for measuring physiological data concerning the person and produced by massaging the person, the body outline measuring means and the physiological data measuring means being electrically connected to the control means. The body outline measuring means detects the form of the body of the person, for example, the position of the neck, shoulder, back or waste, while the physiological data measuring means detects a part of great stiffness, a part of low stiffness or the degree of relaxation for the machine to give an effective massage in accordance with the degree of stiffness or relaxation.
The body outline measuring means measures angular variations and pressure variations of the massage members and detects the particular part of the body of the person where the massage members are in contact with the body.
The measurements obtained by the body outline measuring means are transmitted to the control means.
The physiological data measuring means measures, for example, the pulse rate, skin temperature and/or electrical resistance of the skin to obtain physiological data which varies in response to the massage given to the person.
A difference occurs in the physiological data detected from the person between a part of high stiffness and a part of low stiffness, or between a relaxed part and an unrelaxed part.
The physiological data is measured by the physiological data measuring means and the measurements are sent to the control means.
Based on the data obtained from the body outline measuring means and the physiological data measuring means, the control means judges, for example, what part of the body of the person is stiff and what part of the body is not stiff, and controls the massage members to give a massage to a particular part of the body while changing the kind of massage movement and varying the intensity, speed and duration of massage in accordance with the position of the part to be treated and with the degree of stiffness.
The massage machine of the present invention is adapted to give an appropriate massage in accordance with the degree of stiffness and the degree of relaxation of the body part of the person to be massaged based on the data obtained from the body outline measuring means and the physiological data measuring means.
For example, the massage members or fingers are so controlled by the control means as to give an intense massage to a part of great stiffness and a weak massage to a part of low stiffness. This eliminates the likelihood that the part of great stiffness will be given an insufficient weak massage, or the part of low stiffness an uncomfortable intense massage as experienced with the prior art.
The present invention therefore achieves improvements in the therapeutic effect and comfort to be given by massage.